Warm Memories and Brotherly Bonds

Chapter 54: Shattered Mind

The memory halted completely, nothing around them moved, the images freezing as they showed nothing more than feeble light or dark shadows. There was dead silence all around them, so quiet that thy Straw Hats could each hear their own breathing.

"L-Luffy?!" Usopp shouted staring ahead before he let out a cry of shock as the memory seemed to crack and break apart. It was as if they had been in some kind of glass box as they watched the memories... and now someone had took something big and heavy to smash it.

"What's going on now?!" Nami shouted fearfully. "Who did this?!"

"No one..." Robin remembering when something like this happened to her after the death of her beloved homeland. Seeing Saul's death, as well as realizing that she had lost everyone she had ever known and cared about, and finally the image of the entire island engulfed in flames. She broke down and cried in that little boat, her mind feeling like it was cracking apart from just the stress of everything that happened in just that one day. The only thing that had kept her going since then were Saul's words echoing in her head... it was because of that she was able to keep herself from falling completely apart. "Luffy's mind... it just... shattered."

"Shattered?!" Nami, Usopp, and Franky all shouted as the others stared at her in shock.

"That has been known to happen... right, Doctor?" Robin asked Chopper, who was still crying. He rubbed his eyes hard and tried to speak in as calm a voice as he could, though it was still trembling.

"Yes..." he sniffled. "I have heard all about it... even seen some traces of it in people before. His mind just broke down all at once."

"Wait, I-I don't get it!" Usopp said hurriedly, wishing that someone would just speak in a way that he could understand.

Robin took a death breath as she tried to go on bravely, "Luffy's desire to save Ace was the only thing that kept him going. His body was pushed beyond its limits, but he still pressing onwards, refusing to stop until he saved Ace." She looked on towards the shattered glass-like memory and went on, "But seeing Ace die like that...? The shock, combined with his countless injuries he had received since he ventured into Impel Down, along with his already exhausted body...? All he went through in such a short time only for Ace to die protecting him from a blow that was meant for him...? It was just too much for his mind to handle all at once."

"And that's what happens in a lot of cases," Chopper sniveled at their feet. "When people can't handle events because they're so shocking and traumatizing... the just sort of... shut down. Ace's death was just finally the thing that pushed him too far. And so... to try and protect itself, his mind short of... turned itself off."

"That can't be good for him, can it?" Zoro asked, still not sure if he should be worried or not.

"In one way... it is," Chopper hesitated before coming out and told them, "It was like his mind's very last defense to try and protect him from the trauma. But...?"

"There's always a 'but'..." Franky groaned out, knowing that he wasn't going to like this.

"But there's no telling the kind of damage that could do as well," Chopper sniffled, hating how helpless he was here. "I just... I don't know! I don't know what to do anymore!"

"His mind was heavily damaged from this moment," Nami said, having finally understood what he was talking about. She could only imagine just how much that would've haunted Luffy... probably up to today if she had to bet. He seemed like he was doing alright when she first saw him after their two year separation—he was smiling and laughing when they all reunited, and they continued on their journey as if nothing had happened. But was it also possible that he was still suffering secretly and they hadn't noticed? She didn't know anymore.